Useful Bible Studies > Romans Commentary > chapter 2
The Jews are God’s special people, who belong to the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God has chosen their nation, and he shows great kindness to them. God gave them his law; he has made wonderful promises to them; and Christ came from their families.
The Greeks are the people from Greece. The ancient Greeks were a truly great nation, but their greatness came from power in this world. They prayed to false gods; the real God was then unknown to them (Acts 17:22-23). As in Romans 1:16, Paul refers to them on behalf of the people in every nation who are not Jews.
The Jews have the advantages that come from their nation’s relationship with God. The ancient Greeks had the advantages that came from their nation’s importance and power in this world. However, nobody will have any special advantages when God is their judge. The rewards for good behaviour are alike; the punishments for evil behaviour are alike. God’s judgements are always right and proper for each and every person.
People sometimes try to impress a judge on earth by means of their importance. Sometimes they use a gift to try to gain a judge’s support. Nobody can gain God’s support by those methods. In fact, he declares such gifts to be wrong and evil (Exodus 23:8). Many people try to use religion to impress God; however, they refuse to do what God wants (Micah 6:6-8). We must be very careful, therefore, to follow the kind of religion that God approves of (James 1:26-27; Romans 2:13). In particular, we must have an attitude of faith (active belief and trust in God) - Hebrews 11:6. We must depend not on our own good deeds, but on what Christ did by his death for us (4:1-5; 5:8; 6:23).
Next part: We must obey God’s message, and not merely hear it (Romans 2:12-13)
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